fncceo
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- Nov 29, 2016
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This has never been an interesting question to me because, it didn't have a great bearing on their Antisemitism.
The Nazis obviously weren't Soviet-style Socialists, they hated the Bolsheviks and were highly critical of them. Private enterprise flourished under the Nazis, more than in the previous German governments. In fact, many businesses nationalized during the Great German Depression, were privatized under the Nazis.
But, as you can imagine, the topic of Antisemitism is very much in my (our) minds this week and because of that, I decided to re-watch the 1940 Nazi propaganda film, 'The Eternal Jew' by Franz Hippler.
Something I had never really focused on before is the the emphasis they put on 'decent' labor and 'evil' capitalism. German workers are good, Jewish businessmen are bad (they neglect to point out there were many more non-Jewish businessmen than Jewish ones in Germany). The Nazis were, at least according to their own propaganda, firm believers in the 'Labor Theory of Value' straight our of Marx. That theory holds that the the amount of socially valuable labor that goes into a good is what determines its value, not its value in the market.
For example, a farm, a coal mine, a tractor factory ... all are valuable, because they produce goods that use lots of (cheap and semi-skilled) labor.
A bank, an investment firm, merchants and wholesalers, are bad ... they make a profit without providing labor for the masses.
In this film, they chastise the French banking family, The Rothschilds, because they sought to avoid the punitive taxes placed on all Jewish businesses in the 18th Century. They denounce banking and mercantile trade as 'evil' and 'Jewish'.
This, however, wasn't unique to the Nazis. Coming out of the Great Depression, most Western countries were experiencing a wave of populist Socialism because of the perceived failure of Market Capitalism, which they had just gone through. Jews in many countries took a lot of abuse, even in America, for their historical connection to finance and markets as opposed to large scale, labor intensive production.
This was counter-balanced in America and other countries because Jews were very influential in the ever-growing labor movement while other Jews had strong ties to banking and finance, and others in science and education. Obviously, this wasn't the case in Nazi Germany, where Jews, quite apart from not being leader in the labor movement, they weren't allowed to be members of labor organizations.
While the Nazis did privatize many businesses when they took power. It was a special type of privatization unique to the Nazis. One that made the Nazi Party a (not so silent) partner in each of the businesses they privatized. So, that while the company itself was run as a private company. The production goals, and economic decisions were made by the Nazi Party, not the company owners. Likewise, much of the profits went to the party as well.
The Nazis had other cultural similarities with the Soviets. They were both very adamant in their rejection of 'decadence' in music, art, and cinema. They believed Jazz, modern forms of art, and absurdly comedic films to be degrading to the morals of the people. Because of this, both the Nazis and the Soviets controlled their films, art, and music with strict censorship.
My conclusion to all this. I don't believe the Nazis were ideological Socialist the way the Soviets were. I don't believe they held strongly to any any dogmatic economic theory. Instead, I believe they were economic opportunists. They portrayed themselves as friends of the working man and used the words and symbols of the populist Socialism movement. But, at the same time, used government control of private investment to take advantage of Capitalism to enrich the party and its leaders.
The Nazis obviously weren't Soviet-style Socialists, they hated the Bolsheviks and were highly critical of them. Private enterprise flourished under the Nazis, more than in the previous German governments. In fact, many businesses nationalized during the Great German Depression, were privatized under the Nazis.
But, as you can imagine, the topic of Antisemitism is very much in my (our) minds this week and because of that, I decided to re-watch the 1940 Nazi propaganda film, 'The Eternal Jew' by Franz Hippler.
Something I had never really focused on before is the the emphasis they put on 'decent' labor and 'evil' capitalism. German workers are good, Jewish businessmen are bad (they neglect to point out there were many more non-Jewish businessmen than Jewish ones in Germany). The Nazis were, at least according to their own propaganda, firm believers in the 'Labor Theory of Value' straight our of Marx. That theory holds that the the amount of socially valuable labor that goes into a good is what determines its value, not its value in the market.
For example, a farm, a coal mine, a tractor factory ... all are valuable, because they produce goods that use lots of (cheap and semi-skilled) labor.
A bank, an investment firm, merchants and wholesalers, are bad ... they make a profit without providing labor for the masses.
In this film, they chastise the French banking family, The Rothschilds, because they sought to avoid the punitive taxes placed on all Jewish businesses in the 18th Century. They denounce banking and mercantile trade as 'evil' and 'Jewish'.
This, however, wasn't unique to the Nazis. Coming out of the Great Depression, most Western countries were experiencing a wave of populist Socialism because of the perceived failure of Market Capitalism, which they had just gone through. Jews in many countries took a lot of abuse, even in America, for their historical connection to finance and markets as opposed to large scale, labor intensive production.
This was counter-balanced in America and other countries because Jews were very influential in the ever-growing labor movement while other Jews had strong ties to banking and finance, and others in science and education. Obviously, this wasn't the case in Nazi Germany, where Jews, quite apart from not being leader in the labor movement, they weren't allowed to be members of labor organizations.
While the Nazis did privatize many businesses when they took power. It was a special type of privatization unique to the Nazis. One that made the Nazi Party a (not so silent) partner in each of the businesses they privatized. So, that while the company itself was run as a private company. The production goals, and economic decisions were made by the Nazi Party, not the company owners. Likewise, much of the profits went to the party as well.
The Nazis had other cultural similarities with the Soviets. They were both very adamant in their rejection of 'decadence' in music, art, and cinema. They believed Jazz, modern forms of art, and absurdly comedic films to be degrading to the morals of the people. Because of this, both the Nazis and the Soviets controlled their films, art, and music with strict censorship.
My conclusion to all this. I don't believe the Nazis were ideological Socialist the way the Soviets were. I don't believe they held strongly to any any dogmatic economic theory. Instead, I believe they were economic opportunists. They portrayed themselves as friends of the working man and used the words and symbols of the populist Socialism movement. But, at the same time, used government control of private investment to take advantage of Capitalism to enrich the party and its leaders.
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